middlewest-3_c358e28d8bMiddlewest #3

Image Comics

Written by Skottie Young

Art by Jorge Corona

Colors by Jean-Francois Beaulieu

Letters by Nate Piekos

Abel and his friend have begun their quest in earnest, Unaware of what they will find on the road, they forge ahead on their way to Sparland and hopefully, answers. Their journey is going to hit another snag when the pair must cross a river by bridge in order to continue. Unfortunately, they run into the one thing most bridges contain as an impediment to an epic quest, a troll.

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At the same time, Abel’s father Dale finds himself walking through the violent aftermath of his transformation. No one seems to know what happened and they chalk it up to a freak storm. When Dale winds up in the hospital, he becomes determined to complete one task despite the odds and warnings; find his son.

I love the mixture of tropes in this story and how they come together in this issue. Skottie Young does a great job of bringing in elements of classic fantasy stories with a modern sensibility and awareness. What also really works is that nothing has been laid out and explained yet. Everything becomes about discovery. The reader discovers at the same time Abel does. Bringing the father in at this point is a great additional source of dramatic tension added to the story. His motives are unclear, but his search for his son doesn’t seem to be malevolent on the surface. Young brings nuance to these characters and their relationships and that makes them compelling to read.

Jorge Corona’s art complements the pace and style of this story really well. There are some amazing panels in this issue especially and the sequence on the bridge is amazingly detailed and beautiful.

Middlewest #3

0.00
9.5

Overall

9.5/10

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